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If Destroy True. - World Premiere .
Playwright - Douglas Maxwell.
Director - John Tiffany.
Designer - Neil Warmington.
Lighting Designer - Natasha Chivers.
Movement - Struan Leslie.
Composer - Brian Docherty.
Company - Paines Plough
Theatre Company and Dundee Rep
Ensemble.
Cast - here .
Venue - seen at Dundee Rep
Theatre .
Dates - Previews 9 & 12 April.13 - 23 April at 7.45pm
Tues to Sat also Matinee Sat 16 April.
2005 Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at Dundee Rep Theatre on 13 April 2005.
Run Time - 2 hours 25 mins including one Interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Morality play for our time.
If Destroyed
True - Dundee Rep Production.
Sweeny - Robert Paterson.
© Manuel Harlan 2005.
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Small towns can
breed small minds but Vincent, an unrecognised artist, son of a mother
who died before he was born, has vision. New Flood is the town, a fictitious
one but all too like those many towns real prosperity forgot. Douglas
Maxwell's If Destroyed True is an interesting if accidental
riposte to the bleak ending of Durrenmatt's The Visit, a
Dundee Rep production of which preceded this world primere.
Vincent's the narrator and Paul Thomas Hickey revels in the poetical
musical script. Maxwell and Director John Tiffany construct scenes
that move in an instant between locations and throught time. Cora Bissett
gives us Vincent's mother Grace, drawn to the edge, high on drugs and
numbed in her lostness, and a haunting singer of Dylan. His mum Arlene,
Ann Loiuse Ross stoically knows her daughter is already beyond
her reach. Ross also brings us Mrs Young an older woman covering
up her pain, a woman who seems to live in committees. When New Flood gets
awarded a cash prize for being the Worst City in Scotland, Vincent persuades
the Common Good committee containing Sweeny, Robert Paterson, professional
pharmacist and slime ball, in public service for his own good, to invest
the large prize in the town.
This is a morality play for our time suggesting little acts of kindness
and concern may not always stem the awful messes but give us hope for
light in the future. John Tiffany's direction brings out the love
and risk humans need to come through. It's in Vincent's old school friends,
Ty, David Ireland and new dad Michael, Keith Fleming at
his best, who reach out to Vincent and in Arlene's understanding of Grace
and Grace's last communication. Alan Tripney rounds off the cast
as the swamplife Norman, who gets to be Sweeny's righthand thug.
There's a wide video screen at the back of the stage, it's not used to
help with the Scottish accents or to aid the hard of hearing, but to project
some of the text in the layout it's published in. The set contains a white
paint splattered black stage with 6 white chunky benches which the cast
rearrange between scenes - ending them up, placing them in a variety of
combinations, including an urban sculpture (which I think I recognise).
Both the repeated reorganisation of the benches and the projected text
intrude, interfering detrimentally with the pace. However Struan Leslie's
movement pieces for the cast at the end of each act add to the whole.
Maxwell's play will be too wordy and narrator-driven for some, and it
should make some local worthies squirm, to judge by the knowing laughter
in Dundee. But the rest of us can take heart from this play which nurtures
optimism even for the worst town in Scotland. It makes me optimistic for
Maxwell and for Tiffany's new appointment at the National Theatre of Scotland
as Associate Director (New Work).
©Thelma Good 13 April 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast - Vincent - Paul Thomas Hickey, Grace -
Cora Bissett, Arlene/Mrs Young - Ann Louise Ross, Tupelo Tam/Sweeny -
Robert Paterson, Michael - Keith Fleming, Ty - David Ireland and Norman
- Alan Tripney.
2005 Tour Details.
Tour begins
9 & 12 April.13 - 23 April at 7.45pm Tues to Sat also Matinee
Sat 16 April at Dundee Rep.
26 April - 22 May at London Meniere Chocolate Factory.
Tour ends.
Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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